Seducing the Good-Girl
by vulturemonem
Summary: The Swan family is loaded. Literally. Bella Swan has grown up bathed in the riches of her world-class surgeon father, and her award-winning interior-designer mother, and is, consequently, the most innocent girl known to man-kind. Bella is horrified and disbelieving when she's up and moved to Forks, but it just turns out that her move is the best thing to happen to her...
1. Chapter 1-You Can't Be Serious

**A/N**

**So this is my brand new story, Seducing the Good-Girl. I'm excited to start this story, and I hope you enjoy the first chapter. Leave me some feedback if you have any! Oh, and when I started 'Saviour', I had a lot of people complain about the Blacks being the bad guys. Well that was no reflection upon me hating the Blacks, they were just the people I picked on for that story. I regret to say that the people I've decided to pick on for this story are Carlisle and Esme. I will just say that they do love their daughter, even if they don't act like it! I really hope that doesn't deter you!**

**Enjoy!**

**Lucy xX**

***

"You can't be serious," I said, staring from my mother to father in sheer horror.

"We're dead serious Bella," my father said, his voice a little cold.

"What, so we're moving, tomorrow. Why?"

"You've lived your entire life in Phoenix, you need to taste the real world."

So I had to give up my life in Phoenix. I had to give up that lavish life-style I was used to, so that we could move to rainy ol' Washington. Great. Just great. I'd have to attend an ordinary high-school, leave behind my friends, people I'd known since I was born, and leave behind our house. I had to leave the town I grew up in.

"Please tell me you're joking?" I begged.

"Absolutely not Isabella," my mother said, pursing her lips, "We're moving to Forks. I had some friends renovate our house, and I'll have some work in Seattle. Carlisle will be working in the local hospital."

I turned to my father.

"You do realise that pay in Phoenix will be ten times what it is in Washington, don't you?"

"Yes, Isabella. Hard as it may be for your teenage brain to grasp, I am not an idiot," my father said, his voice cold.

"But I love Phoenix," I stated.

"Isabella this is not open for debate. We are moving to Forks. Tomorrow."

After delivering his final strike, my father turned on his heel, calling my mother to follow him. I still couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had to give up my life in Phoenix, so that I could 'get a taste of the real world'. Well damn. It wasn't like the Swans would ever mix with people in the real world. Anyone with the surname 'Swan' could get themselves a table at the most popular, upper-class restaurant in the US at five hours notice.

With a mother who earned millions from renovating old house, and a father who earned twice as much as a surgeon, I'd never found myself in a situation like that one. I didn't have a choice in many things, however. My parents didn't give a jot about my feelings, really. It was 'Isabella' this, and 'Isabella' that. Hell, I hated being called Isabella. Unfortunately, it just didn't look good for a Swan to have a nickname. It was always, 'Dr. Carlisle Swan, Mrs. Esme Swan, and Miss Isabella Swan'. No abbreviations. It didn't look good.

Perhaps that would be one good thing about moving to Forks. Any friends I managed to make wouldn't be under any obligation to call me 'Isabella'. The only person ever to call me 'Bella', which was the name I wanted, was my very old friend, Rosalie Hale. Rose had been my best friend for years, but her father had up and moved her to God-knows where. She left without saying goodbye, much to the relief of my parents. The Hales weren't rich enough to befriend a Swan.

_Yeah. _

***

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Groaning, I wrenched my eyes open and slammed my hand down on the irritating alarm clock which just insisted on beeping constantly. For a moment, I frowned at the unusual amount of light and strange surroundings, before I remembered. I was in Forks. I was in rainy Washington, where I knew no-one, and had to wear sweaters all year round. Fabulous.

I looked around at my bedroom for a moment. A whole wall had been replaced with glass, giving me an amazing view of the forest and garden, and another wall had an enormous shelf leaning against it, containing all of my films and music. My bed was in the middle of the room, enabling me to watch the TV from the soft comforts of the duvet. My mother had found a pretty, antique desk for me to use.

I fiddled with my fingers, before remembering that I'd set my alarm because I had to go to school. Forks High School. Yay me. With a sigh, I threw back the thick duvet that was required in Washington, and climbed out of bed. Quickly, I showered and dressed - being sure to throw on a jumper - before heading downstairs.

My mother was downstairs already, wearing a neat, pinstriped blouse and a straight, black skirt, and was reading a newspaper, tea sat beside her. I had to hold back a snort at her appearance. She really didn't look like she was going to have a look at an old, dirty building full of creepy-crawlies and stenches that made your eyes water. She did, at least, have her curly, caramel hair pulled back by a pin.

Feeling more than a little bitter at the prospect of going to an 'ordinary' high school, I grabbed a mug and made myself a coffee. I sat down opposite my mother, acknowledging her with a nod, and grabbed a piece of toast that had been set in the middle of the table. As I took a sip of my coffee, my mother looked up.

"What are you drinking?" she asked, disdain apparent in her voice.

"Coffee," I snapped, "Problem?"

"Must I tell you that it's more proper to drink tea?" she sighed.

"In England, maybe," I said, with a shrug, "But not in the privacy of our house in Washington."

"Isabella, it's easy to slip when you don't practise."

I couldn't contain the roll of my eyes.

"Isabella," my mother said, her voice surprisingly soft, "I know you didn't want to move to Forks, but we're doing it for your best interests. As soon as you finish high school, I promise you can go to college in Phoenix, if you still want to." There was a slight twinkle in her eye that caught me off guard.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"I hope that in a few years you'll forgive your father and I," she said quietly.

"Where is Dad?"

"He's gone in for an early shift. He left about two hours ago. He said good luck."

With a nod from myself, our short conversation ended, and we lapsed back into our ordinary silence as I finished my coffee, deliberately ignoring the looks my mother sent my way. After about ten minutes, I stood up and bid my mother goodbye. Smiling slightly, she handed me a set of keys with a Volvo badge on them. With a frown, I thanked her and disappeared outside.

With a contented sigh, I turned my face upwards slightly to allow the sun to soak into my skin. The sun was far weaker than what I was used to, but I knew that it didn't get much better in Phoenix. Pulling my attention away from the milky sun, just breaking through the clouds, I walked up to the shiny, silver Volvo and unlocked it. I climbed in and keyed the engine, before hitting the gas pedal hard. I'd always liked driving fast, and a slight lack of light wasn't going to slow me down.

Once on the main road, and away from the hazardous, twisty bends in the road that lead to our house in the middle of nowhere, I flicked on the radio. The sounds of quiet, classical music filled the car, and I was able to let the music drift into the background as I thought about the people if left behind in Phoenix.

After Rose had been moved to wherever it was three years ago, I became fast friends with Jane Alec and Kate Snow. Kate had had a wicked sense of humour, and was great to cheer someone up. Jane was quieter, but she was loyal, and she was pretty daring. That was a must when you were friends with Kate. I'd been friendly with most people, but Jane and Kate were the only people my age I'd miss.

I had very little time to think any more of the lavish life I'd left behind in Phoenix, as Forks High loomed before me at that moment. Rather than a large, imposing figure, it was a scattering of little buildings. Forgetting the dreary weather, Forks could almost be described as sweet.

My eyes raked along the buildings close by, looking for the receptionist's office (they had one, right?!). Having located it, I slid neatly into a space nearby. Having lived in Phoenix for so long where parking spots were tiny, the space I had to park in the school was ample. I killed the engine and hopped out, slinging my bag over my shoulder and heading towards the reception.

I pushed open the heavy door, and walked up to a lady in her fifties or so, with a name-tag reading '_Mrs. Cope_'.

"I'm Bella Swan," I said, deliberately using my preferred name, "I'm new today."

"Just a minute dear," she said, looking down a list, "Isabella Swan?"

I nodded, pursing my lips. There'd be a lot of correcting going on today. I hated being called 'Isabella'. It felt far to posh and formal.

Smiling, Mrs. Cope handed me my timetable and a map of the school. It wouldn't take me long to learn my way around. She pointed out the easiest routes to take, and I committed them to memory. We then handed me a dozen leaflets that I'd never read about clubs and the schools history.

Having thanked Mrs. Cope with a smile, I left the small little office and stood outside in the parking lot. I took out my timetable and had a look. My parents had decided upon which classes they wanted me to take, and I'd had no choice in the matter. I had English first, which was fine by me, followed by Spanish, which was also fine by me, and trig, which was not. Math. Ugh. After lunch, I had biology and... Gym. Yippee do. I wasn't exactly the most co-ordinated human alive, so me and sports didn't really mix. It usually ended in disaster. Disaster in the form of another trip to the emergency room. Kate had used to joke about my clumsy tendencies a lot.

I glanced around the parking lot, taking in the cars. There was a Jeep parked near to mine, several little Fords, a few Peugeots and a BMW M3 convertible. It was the flashiest car in there, though it would have looked pathetic in Phoenix. That was another good thing about Forks. Less stuck-up rich girls, who's daddies would buy them out of anything.

Then again, I thought as I eyed a tall blond with bright blue eyes who seemed to be holding court with a swarm of girls, you got the witchy, horrible girls who thought your private life was their business and stuck their noses in your faces. I might not have been to a 'normal' high school before, but I knew what went on. Courtesy of Kate.

I looked at the people standing and chatting by their cars. There was the group of girls I'd just seen, and a group of boys that would probably be the footballers. There was a group of about seven, who were laughing and chatting pleasantly. They didn't seem like the populars, nor did they appear the unpopulars.

There was also a group of five, who seemed like the kind of people that would be wanted as the populars, but they clearly weren't. There was a skinny, blond guy with his arm around the waist of a short, black-haired girl, who could be described as 'pixie-like'. Standing to the couple's left, was a boy of just of six foot, by my estimation, with a head full of bronze curls and startling green eyes. He had the kind of looks (good looks) you'd expect amongst the footballers.

Leaning against the red BMW I'd noticed earlier was an enormous dude with short brown hair, and a child-like expression on his face. I had to admit, he was more than a little bit scary. Leaning next to him, was a tall blond girl. She had her back to me, so I couldn't see her face, but by her figure and her hair I could guess that she was beautiful.

Then she turned around.

Oh my God.

"Rose!" I cried, unable, to help myself. Rosalie Hale looked up, slightly surprised, and scanned the parking lot. Her eyes rested on my moving figure after a few seconds, and a confused smile spread across her face. I grinned at her as I reached where she was standing, and she threw her arms around me.

"Bella?" she asked, "What on earth are you doing in Forks?" she asked, emphasis on 'you'.

"The folks moved me up here to attend high school. You never told me you moved here!"

"I was moved within two hours of being told. And the cell reception here is rubbish. We had to switch servers. Oh my God, I can't believe you're here!" Rose gushed.

"The feeling is mutual Rose," I said, my smile widening.

"Sorry to break up the reunion," the big dude said, a little grin on his face, "But who is this?"

I blushed, a little embarrassed, but Rose stepped right in for me.

"This is Bella Swan. We were best friends in Phoenix, I've told you about her. Bella, this oaf is my boyfriend, Emmett McCarty, this is Alice Cullen and her brother Edward," she said, motioning to the pixie girl and the bronze-haired guy, "And that's Jasper Whitlock, Alice's boyfriend."

"At your service ma'am," Jasper said in a Texan drawl.

"We're all in the same year. Alice and Edward are twins," Rose said.

"You're Bella Swan?" Alice blurted out.

"Um, yeah," I said, blushing again. I couldn't tell whether Alice was disbelieving in a good way, or a bad way. It was definitely one of the two.

"Rose has told us all about you!" she squealed, hugging me suddenly. I shot Rose a silent plea for help, but, to my surprise, it was Alice's brother, Edward, that peeled the girl off of me.

"Calm down Alice. You can't just go around hugging people," he said, his voice patient. He threw me an apologetic smile, but I waved it off.

"Seriously though Bella," Rose said, turning back to me, "What are you doing in Forks?"

"Believe me, I didn't want to move," I said, before explaining my parents' reasoning for moving to Forks.

"So you liked Phoenix too huh?" Emmett asked, "Rosie said the same thing when she first moved here."

"It's a bigger move for Bella though," Rose said, "And think about what a shock I got when I started 'real school'."

Emmett snorted a little.

"Oh yeah. That was funny to watch. You had no idea how rude people could be," he said, snickering. Rose slapped his up the back of his head, and I laughed a little.

"Actually, I know a bit about high school," I said, trusting that Rose's friends weren't going to laugh at me, "Courtesy of Kate."

"Kate Snow?" Rose asked.

I nodded.

"See that girl over there? The blond one holding court with her followers?" Alice said, pointing to the girl I'd identified earlier, "Well that's Tanya Denali. According to Rose, she's the cousin of your Kate."

"Right."

"But don't mention Kate," Rose said, "Tanya gets all worked up and bitchy about it. God knows why. Stay away from her, if you possibly can. At least," a grin spread across her face, "Until you've tasted high school for a bit."

I rolled my eyes at Rose, feeling like we'd never been apart.

"Does that mean what I think it does?" Alice asked, a sly look crossing her face.

"That depends what you think it means," Rose said, all-too innocently.

"Are you inviting Bella to join in your 'kick down Tanya' plan?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course."

"Someone care to clue me in ladies?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Tanya is the bitchiest Queen Bee a high school could ask for. She's been after Edward for years, and each time she's turned down-"

"She throws a huge hissy-fit and starts being even bitchier than usual," Edward said nochalently, "Carry on Rose."

"You'll see more of her behaviour after you've been here a few days. Anyway, Alice and I, along with a few supporters, are trying our best to knock Tanya off her top post as Queen Bee."

"Bitch won't know what's hit her," Alice said, snorting.

The surprised, horrified, slightly terrified expression must have shown on my face, for everyone around me burst out laughing. Was the girl really so bad? And was this the language used in an ordinary high school? If a swear word was so much as whispered at the select, fancy school I'd been to in Phoenix, you'd probably have been expelled. If my parents were ever to hear me using that language as casually as these friends did... I shuddered at the thought. I had a lot of things to get used to.

And yet, Rose was throwing around the curses as easily as the others. Perhaps, given a few weeks, I too would fit in to Forks High. I had to hold back a snicker. Yeah, who was I kidding? It would be months before I even slightly blended in to the students here. I was too much of a fancy, city girl. Oh great.

"What has you looking so horrified?" Rose asked, still laughing a little. I my easy blush rose up on my cheeks.

"You don't want to know," I muttered.

"Aw, come on!" Emmett said, nudging me. If my mother had seen that casual touch she'd have had a fit... My parents believed that one should keep one's personal space, and that one should not have one's personal space intruded upon. Forks High was going to be a real wake-up call for me.

Snapping myself back to the present, I shook my head. Emmett had just opened his mouth to protest when the bell rang. I let out a long, relieved sigh - which didn't go unnoticed by Rose, who rolled her eyes at me - and we headed into the building together. I was reunited with my best friend, and there were four other people I could have as friends. They all seemed nice enough. And here I was worrying about being all alone.

I rifled through the papers given to me by the receptionist, looking for my locker code and a padlock. I was sure she'd handed one to me... Just as I spied it at the very bottom of the folder of stuff (mostly junk I'd never read), I felt someone slam into me. Not having a great sense of balance, I stumbled backwards and fell sideways.

Just as I prepared for my head to hit the lockers, a firm arm wrapped itself around my waist, righting me. I looked across to see Edward, which caused me to blush furiously. I was expecting an apology from whoever had bashed into me, and I'd be only too happy to apologise myself. After all, it was I who hadn't been looking where I was going. Instead, I got a sneer from a tall, lanky guy with long, greasy blond hair. His nose twitched, as though he was smelling something unpleasant, and his sneer morphed into a hard, cold glare.

"Watch where you're going, new kid," he snapped.

"Leave her alone James," Emmett hissed.

James, as I now knew he was, shot Emmett a glare, and turned back to me.

"Get out of my way bitch."

I had to hold back a gasp as Edward steered me out of the guy's way. Seriously? Are you kidding me? People just chucked around insults like that when someone bashed into them? Accidentally, I might add? Sweet Lord. Shaking my head slightly at James' rudeness, I hoped that I never ran into him again. However, I doubted my prayers would be answered, considering the size of Forks high, and indeed the town itself. Though I didn't technically live in town.

"Stay away from James," Jasper said darkly, "He's seriously bad news."

"He's crossed the law more than once," Edward said, "Dad has had more trouble with him than any other teenager here. Including Emmett. At least he's leaving next year."

"Is it possible to stay away from anyone in a school this size?" I asked skeptically.

Emmett laughed.

"Little lady has a point."

"If he gives you any trouble, just tell us. Dad'll set him straight," Alice pipped up from beside Emmett. The comparison was hilarious. Tiny, probably-not-much-more-than-five-foot Alice, next to big, well-over-six-foot Emmett. Hell, the guy was probably closer to seven foot.

"Our Dad is the Chief of Police here," Edward said. Ah. That made sense.

"What does your mom do?" I asked, partly to make conversation and partly because I was interested.

"Mom's a kindergarten teacher, which suits her perfectly. She doesn't live here though. She married some guy called Phil that she met over the Internet. He plays baseball, minor league. He's, what? Twenty-five?" Alice asked, looking to Edward.

"Twenty-four," Edward corrected her, his voice bitter. I said nothing else on the subject.

"Em and I are actually step-brothers," Jasper said, picking up the conversation before the silence could become awkward, "My Mom remarried to his Dad."

"It works out great though," Emmett said, grinning, "I hated my Mom, and Jasper hated his Dad."

"You know what my Dad does. He's working at a bank in Seattle at the moment," Rose said.

I nodded, and the conversation lulled as we reached our lockers. I found mine a little way along, and saw Jasper two doors down from me. We exchanged small smiles. I knew that Rose's mom had died when she was young. Rose rarely talked about her, but when she did the conversation was kept light, well away from the day she died. Apparently, she was hit by a drunk-driver and put in a coma. She died three months later, and nobody had been with her. It was a very sad story, and one which I had no doubt the group of friends had been told.

Just as I shut and locker my locker, a guy walked up to the locker next to me, and started shoving his stuff into his bag. I froze, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. Jasper tugged me away gently, throwing worried glances over his shoulder. For standing beside my locker, was none other than James. Rose came up to us, probably wondering what all the bother was about. Jasper explained the situation.

"You can't be serious," Rose said, groaning.

I felt exactly the same way.

***

**A/N**

**Alright gang, let me have it.**


	2. Chapter 2-Day One

**A/N**

**Uh huh, I'm not actually dead. I know I haven't updated this for over a month, but my focus has been on other things. From now on, I'll knuckle down and getting some writing done! That is, if real life doesn't deal me any more unpleasant surprises. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'd love to hear your thoughts, good or bad. Anything chocolate-y would be good too! Usually I'll updated on a Saturday, but I had a free afternoon, so you got a surprise update. I'll update again on Saturday, unless something weird happens!**

**Lucy xX**

I was slightly disappointed to learn that I didn't have English with any of Rose's friends, but I had Spanish with Alice, and trig with Rose and Jasper, which made up for my one lesson alone. Apparently Edward was in my biology class, and Emmett and Alice were both in my gym class.

Fabulous.

They could witness me trip over thin air.

I bid Rose and her friends goodbye, after getting directions to my English classroom, and manoeuvred my way through the narrow, busy corridors of Forks High. For a school with less than four hundred people in it, the corridors certainly had the potential to give you some good bruises. I had no idea why it was so busy.

Eventually, I found myself at the door to the English class, so the opened the door and handed the teacher - Mr. Masen - the slip that the receptionist had given me that morning. Thankfully, I'd been transferred to Forks High at the beginning of the school year, so I wasn't starting any work in the middle. Not that English would be a problem for me anyway, but trig... No. I'd need help with trig anyway. Starting mid-semester would be the death sentence for me.

I was handed a tourmaline-coloured writing book and a well-thumbed copy of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and told to sit down next to a smiling girl with light brown hair. She looked like the chatty type, unfortunately. I didn't particularly want to talk about myself. The Swans were a well-known family, and I was almost ashamed to be a part of it. I knew that my parents had worked well for what they had, but our wealth and mannerisms made me uncomfortable. I had a feeling that the life I had lived would be a foreign concept to the inhabitants of Forks.

Mr. Masen began the lesson, and we began to read through Twelfth Night. We read at a ludicrously slow pace, and I found myself drifting off into space as my classmates laughed about the more humorous words and phrases in the play. Eventually, Mr. Masen set the book down, and told us to do a character sketch of various people in the play for homework. I hadn't even realised the lesson had ended.

The girl next to me - Jessica Stanley, from what was written on the front of her books - had made no attempt to talk to me until the bell rang, and the class broke out into chatter. She turned towards me, clearly knowing exactly who I was, and began pounding me with questions. It made me feel a little dazed. My emotions must have shown on my face, as she blushed slightly and apologised, before introducing herself.

"And you're Isabella Swan right?"

"Bella," I corrected her politely.

"I'm Jessica Stanley. So you're new to Forks right?"

"Yes," I replied, racking my brains for a topic of conversation. I'd been brought up to hold a conversation with somebody, rather than exchange a few tart sentences and then fall into awkward silence. However, talking to a world-class surgeon friend of my father's was far easier than talking to another teenage girl, of my own age. Yes, my life was just that depressing. Perhaps Rose could reintroduce me to normality...

I needn't have worried.

"Where did you move from?"

"Phoenix," I said.

"Big change in scenery huh?"

"Definitely. I don't much like the rain. Cold, wet..." I trailed off and shuddered, causing Jessica to laugh.

"So what d'you have next?"

"Spanish, then trig."

"Oh cool. Hey, do you know Rosalie Hale?" she asked, taking more interest in me than she had previously. Her eyes had sparked, and she glanced over her shoulder as we left the English classroom, presumably checking to see if anybody was watching us. Why? I had no idea whatsoever.

"I do. We were friends in Phoenix."

"I didn't realise you two had gone to the same school," Jessica said, glancing over her shoulder once again.

"We did."

"That's cool. You have a friend here huh? I should warn you though," she said, lowering her voice. "Rosalie has changed a lot since she first came to Forks. She may not be the same person she was before."

I had to refrain myself from rolling my eyes. Perhaps Rose's mannerisms and habits had changed. Of that I had no doubt. I'd seen a display of how much she had changed from that respect in the parking lot that morning. But there was no way Rose had changed in the way that mattered. She was still the best friend that had been ripped out of my life two years before, and she still seemed willing to help me settle in, and to introduce me to her friends.

"Maybe," was all I said in reply.

"Bye then Bella," Jessica said, shooting me a slightly strange glance.

"Bye Jessica."

Shaking my head a little at Jessica's strange behaviour (or perhaps that was just how normal teenage girls behaved?), I took a surreptitious glance at the map the receptionist had given me, and made my way to Spanish. I hoped to run into Alice Cullen before I reached the classroom, so that I could sit down next to her, but luck didn't seem to be on my side.

I reached the classroom, still not seeing the small, black-haired friend of Rose, and pushed the door open. There weren't many people in there - an Asian boy with brown hair that I didn't recognise, and a couple of people I remembered from my English class. Biting my lower lip sub-consciously, I made my way to an empty desk and sat down. There didn't appear to be a seating plan pinned up anywhere, so I sat down in the middle of the room.

However, just as I began to pull out a pen and the jotter I'd thrown in my bag that morning, a tall, anorexic blond strutted through the door, and flicked her long, blond hair over one shoulder. I realised that she was the girl Alice had called Tanya, and the one I had seen holding court with another thirty odd students. Behind her was bother blond, though this one was a little shorter, and far less skinny. Her hair was limp and straggly, though had obviously been curled at the bottom.

"Move out of the way new girl," Tanya sneered, "I sit there."

Deciding not to get on their bad side on day one, I inclined my head slightly to acknowledgement and picked up my bag and the stuff I'd taken out, and rose up from my seat, intending to find another space. It seemed that Tanya expected me to move at an inhuman speed though, as she let out a huff and pushed me aside.

I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again. What good would it do? Tanya seemed to be vile to everybody, from what Rose and her friends had said, and me protesting would only make her hate me. I'd much rather keep my head down. In Phoenix, it was easy to avoid someone, as the school was massive. But in Forks... Avoiding Tanya would be an impossible task.

I sat down at another desk, as far from Tanya as I could get, just as Alice walked through the door. She smiled brightly at me, and walked - bounced - over to where I was. She sang a greeting, which I returned with a smile. Tanya turned around in her seat as she heard Alice speak, and sneered at us.

"What the hell Cullen? You're actually talking to her?" She nodded her head towards me as she spoke, and the girl next to her wrinkled her nose in distaste, as though I smelt bad or something. Alice cocked an eyebrow at Tanya, but said nothing, merely turning around and sitting down lightly beside me.

"You're committing social suicide," the other girl snorted.

Alice smiled sweetly.

"May I remind you, my dear Lauren, that I don't give a damn about my social status. I have my family and my friends. I don't need to become one of Tanya's lap-dogs. Bella here is under Hale protection, and you know it. Trust me, Rose will not let you mess with her."

"Is that so?" Tanya asked, looking distinctly uninterested. I caught a flash of curiosity in her eyes as she regarded me though, and I guessed that Tanya was dying to get her claws into some gossip. It seemed that Tanya didn't even know who I was. Or maybe when Alice had said my name it dawned on her...

"Absolutely," Alice said, before averting her gaze and looking towards the front of the classroom where the teacher, Señora Dolores, had walked in. She smiled round at the class, her glossed lips turned up in a smile. Her sharp blue eyes landed on me, and she beckoned me to the front of the classroom silently, with one finger.

Oh great.

Blushing twelve shades of scarlet, I stood up and headed to the front of the classroom. I stumbled slightly in the process, and cursed my inability to walk across a flat surface. Particularly when embarrassed. Señora Dolores beamed at me when I reached her, and signed my slip. She handed me a textbook and an exercise book, then made me turn to the class.

Immediately, I turned into a mumbling, bumbling mess. Looking at a piece of chewing gum which had been stuck on the front of a girl's desk next to some rather vulgar language, I gave the class my name, feeling my cheeks get steadily more red. Surely there were only so many shades of red I could go through?

"Have you done Spanish before Bella?" Señora Dolores asked.

"Sí," I said, just to price my point. I'd done more French than I'd done Spanish, but they were similar languages, and I doubted Forks High would be as into the 'romantic' languages as Brightmont Academy had been. Forks didn't even have any advanced placement courses available! I'd taken both AP English literature and language and AP Biology in Phoenix, and, had I stayed on to attend my junior and senior years, I'd have taken AP Spanish.

"Magnífico!" she said, and then motioned for me to sit back down.

At last.

Sighing a little to myself, I made my way towards the back of the classroom, where Alice was watching me with a sympathetic expression, though she was smiling slightly and chewing on the inside of her mouth. Señora Dolores began the lesson, and started with past tense verbs. I allowed myself to relax a little in the lesson, as I'd done this several times before. It seemed that the rest of my class had too, as they all looked bored.

She stopped talking after about half an hour, and set us some questions. Chatter broke out across the classroom, and Alice turned to me, looking at me as though I was something she'd seen many times before, but forgotten about entirely. I picked up my pen and began to write, trying not to feel self-conscious. Alice was scrutinising me still, and I couldn't help notice that she was absolutely beautiful, and I was so very clearly not.

"You remind me of Rose when she first came here," Alice said quietly. "Just even more drastic. And less obsessed with hair."

I laughed a little, despite myself.

"Rose loved shopping when I last saw her too," I said.

Alice's eyes light up.

"She doesn't love shopping as much as I do!" she squealed. "But I hear that you don't?"

I grimaced down at the page of Spanish in front of me.

"Definitely not."

"We'll need to train you Bella," Alice said firmly.

"Rose has been trying to do that for a decade. It hasn't worked. I shop only when I need to, and not a minute before."

"I keep forgetting how long you've known Rose. Did you grow up together?"

I snorted.

"God no. Hasn't she told you all of this?" Alice shook her head at me, so I explained about how our friendship came to be. "My parents have never approved of me being such good friends with Rose. It simply doesn't look good enough for a Swan to be best friends with a Hale. Rose and I met in the second grade, and to begin with, we kept our distance from each other. I didn't really have any friends. I got along with people, but they were all too snobbish, or too pampered by their mothers and showered with gifts from their fathers. Rose was different. I can't really remember how we got talking, but I realised that I liked her, and we ended up hanging around together constantly. We became friends, and then best friends. We met a couple of girls called Kate and Jane in our freshman year. Then her parents moved her up here."

"That sucks," Alice said.

"What in particular?" I asked, grinning a little.

"Your parents being so against your friendship."

"At least I have an in-tact family that do, in their own weird and awful way, love each other," I said.

For a moment, Alice was quiet. I remembered then what Edward had said that morning about her mother marrying some young guy in his twenties. I hadn't thought about it when I'd spoken, and I immediately felt bad. I didn't want Alice to get the wrong idea. Hell, I'd only known her for a few hours. It wouldn't be right to make a comment about her family like that.

"I'm sorry Alice, I didn't think about it, I-"

"No, it's ok Bella. It just made me think..." she trailed off, and was silent again for a moment or two, save for the gentle scratching of her pen and mine. "Do you have any siblings Bella?"

"No," I said, sighing a little. "But it'd be nice to have one. Rose became like a sister to me, in a way."

Alice smiled sadly.

"Though he drives me round the bend ninety percent of the time, I can't imagine growing up without Edward. We're twins, but he's always been more like an older brother than a twin. Emmett and Jasper too. We met Emmett in kindergarten, and Jasper in the third grade, when he and his mom moved up here. When Jasper and I first started dating, not only did Edward threaten to rip his head off is he hurt me, but Emmett did too. It was funny actually. I believe Edward said he'd rip Jasper up into tiny pieces and scatter them through the forest. Edward, who isn't violent in the slightest."

I laughed.

"Have you got a boyfriend back in Phoenix?"

"No," I said. "I've only ever had one boyfriend, and I caught him cheating on me. By my locker."

"I'm sorry Bella, that's bad."

"My father didn't think so. He'd been disapproving when I told him, of course," I said, stressing the last two words. "And his words when I came home, upset about it, were 'I told you Isabella'."

"Ouch! That's..." Alice trailed off again, shooting me a glance. Clearly, she'd remembered that she was talking about my dad, even if he had been horrible to me. I didn't really care though. My mother, I could handle, she just infuriated me until I wanted to tear my hair out, but my father was cruel and hypocritical the majority of the time. I couldn't remember a time he'd said he loved me, or my mother. He didn't love. He had a heart of stone.

"It's fine," I said, my voice bitter. "My father is an idiot."

"He's still your dad," Alice said softly. "I can't go round insulting your family."

"You didn't," I pointed out.

"I was about to."

I smiled at Alice's blatant honesty. At that moment, Señora Dolores looked up at the clock, and cried out, startling us all.

"Mis hijos! Hay que ir! We must go children, before the principle puts us all in detention! Apologise to your next teacher!" With that, she ushered us up and out of the door, not giving us any homework. Excellent. I bid Alice goodbye, and she told me she'd see me at lunch. I assumed that Rose and Jasper were already in their lesson, so I didn't look for them.

The corridors were filled with late students, all running to their next lessons, their bags and rucksacks bobbing up and down in an amusing manner as they jogged. Thankfully, the trig classroom was about ten paces away from my Spanish class, so I didn't need to run and fall flat on my face.

I walked in behind another boy from my Spanish class, who apologised to the teacher sitting at the front. Blushing with all the eyes of those already seated on me, I pulled out my slip for the third time that morning and had the teacher sign it. He was a scary man. Tall, built, and his dark hair was receding a little. He glared down a long nose at me, on which a pair of square glasses sat. Not saying a word, he handed me my books - another textbook and exercise book - and told me to sit down. There was an empty seat beside Rose, which I gladly fell into, and I allowed myself to shrink back into the seat, blending in with the other students. We were seated at the back, for which I was grateful.

I had to admit, that trig class was one of the scariest, most intimidating hours of my life. The teacher introduced himself as Mr. Preece-Smith, and began with a load of threats about what would happen if we misbehaved in any way, or didn't hand in assignments on time. The class was deadly silent as he lectured us.

Eventually, he got on to some actual math. This was not good. I hated math, and I wasn't particularly good at it. I was better at trigonometry than I was at calculus, but I was still hopeless. I'd need some help if I hoped not to fail my math class that year, and not to be put in detention every other week.

Finally, the bell that signalled the beginning of our lunch hour rang, and every student stood up quickly and booked it out of the room. I was no exception. Rose and Jasper were close behind me, and I let out a groan as we fell into the corridor, away from Mr. Preece-Smith. The further away, the better.

"He's evil," I said, shuddering.

"I had him last year too," Jasper said grimly, "And I couldn't agree more. Oh look, here's Alice."

Jasper waved to his girlfriend, who smiled and leapt over to us, looking incredibly hyper and bubbly. Alice was impossible not to like. Unless, of course, you were a heinous bitch called Tanya.

I caught myself. Had I actually just sworn? Even just in my head, it was something of a rare occurrence. It wasn't a first - I swore silently at my father upon occasion - but I hardly ever swore at people I didn't really know. Least of all people like Tanya. They simply weren't worth my time or energy.

"Bella?" I heard Rose call, snapping me from my trance.

"Hm?"

"Where did you go?" she asked, clearly amused.

"Nowhere," I said, flushing slightly.

"She blushes a lot," Emmett said from beside Rose. I hadn't even noticed him walk up to us. I saw that beside him was Edward, talking to Jasper. Alice had turned her head away, but it was clear she was listening. They were speaking quietly, and I couldn't hear them properly, but from Edward's furious expression I sensed that it wasn't anything good.

"That she does," Rose said, grinning her signature grin at me. "But only when speaking to other teenagers, not world-class surgeons."

Emmett and Alice both chortled at my expense. I scowled slightly, and rolled my eyes.

"To be fair, teenagers are far more complicated than surgeons," I said.

"Only you would say that," Rose said with a sigh.

Our lunch hour passed quickly, after a game of truth or dare. Rose ended up stopping the game when Emmett's questions got rather inappropriate. We ended up discussing the revolting foods of Forks High. The salads were brown and limp, the meat undercooked, the pasta overcooked... The list went on. I didn't bother wasting money on something sweet.

"Ugh," Emmett complained. "No way do I have American history!"

Rose glanced at his timetable.

"Yes way. You have American history. See you later babe," she said grinning unsympathetically. Emmett pouted at her, earning him a smack round the back of the head. I couldn't hold back my snort of laughter, and I saw that Jasper and the Cullen twins were also laughing a little.

Edward and I bid the others goodbye and headed towards our biology classroom. We talked about our interests on the way there, and I realised that, despite our difference in gender, Edward and I had quite a lot in common. We liked similar music, and similar film genres. We'd read many of the same books, though I doubted Edward shared my love for romance novels.

"Have you always lived in Forks?" I asked, just out of curiosity.

"Yep. Alice and I visit Mom at Christmas some years. We're going this year. Neither of us want to, really, but Dad is adamant."

"Why don't you want to see your mom? Of you don't mind me asking," I added hastily, remembering that I hadn't known Edward for twenty-four hours yet.

"It's fine," Edward said. "Phil, the guy Mom married, hates kids. It's probably because he's a kid himself. She wants us to 'bond' with her husband, but we want nothing to do with him, and vice versa. I can tolerate him, usually, but we refused to go last year as he'd called Alice a whiny slut the year before. Of course, Mom didn't believe us when we told her, just spouted some crap about us not wanting her to be happy." Edward sighed, then looked sideways at me. "I'm sorry Bella, I'll stop ranting now."

"It's fine, really," I said. "I do my fair share of ranting, trust me."

Edward smiled and opened the door to the biology classroom for me, and motioned me in first. I thanked him, and he pointed to the sheet pinned up behind the desk at the front of the room, which, apparently, had the seating plan it. I checked it, and was pleasantly surprised to see that I was lab-partners with Edward. Score. I actually knew my lab-partner.

As I turned round, I bashed into another girl with long, dark hair and thick-rimmed glasses. She smiled at me apologetically.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's fine," I replied.

"You're Isabella Swan right?"

"Bella, yeah," I corrected her.

"I'm Angela Weber," she said.

Dr. Banner, the teacher, came in at that moment, and signed my slip and handed me a couple of books. I headed back to my seat, aware of all the eyes on me. Just before I reached the desk I shared with Edward, I tripped over a bag strap, and fell forwards. I realised, with a horrible curling in my stomach, that my head was going straight for the corner of the desk. That wasn't embarrassing at all... I felt a firm, warm hand with long, slender fingers wrap itself around my upper arm, preventing my fall.

I looked up into Edward's eyes, and felt myself blush even deeper. I mumbled out my thanks, and took my seat as Dr. Banner began to lecture us on onion root cells. I tuned out, as I'd done it before, and slid my hair over my shoulder, creating a curtain between myself and Edward.

Eventually, we were told to grab a microscope and identify the parts of the onion root cell. Edward stood up to get what we'd need, and I moved our stuff aside so that we'd have some room to work. He came back and slid the first slid in, handing it to me. I flushed slightly, but took a look.

"Prophase," I murmured.

"Can I look?" Edward asked.

"Of course," I said, though I knew I was right.

"Prophase," he agreed.

He slid in the next one with quick, apt fingers and looked.

"Metaphase," he said.

"May I?"

He slid the microscope over to me in answer, though didn't look at me. This was mainly as my curtain of had was still between us. I agreed with metaphase, and looked at the next slide.

"Anaphase," I said. Edward checked, and nodded, before looking at the next.

"Telophase," he said, grinning as he slid the microscope over to me. I blushed as I looked, nodding in confirmation, and spread my hair across my shoulder more evenly.

"Interphase," I mumbled for the next. I heard Edward sigh next to me, and he brushed my hair back over my shoulder with slight impatience. It wasn't in any way an intimate gesture, and his fingers didn't linger, but it made me blink in surprise. Nobody in Phoenix would have done that when they'd known somebody for just a day.

"I can't hear you when you mumble and put your hair over your shoulder," Edward said, smiling. When I blushed even deeper, Edward laughed. "You don't need to be so embarrassed Bella."

"Interphase," I repeated. Edward nodded, not bothering to check.

"That's the last one," he said.

"It would be. We've covered all the phases. Interphase is the resting phase is the resting stage," I said.

Edward looked mildly surprised.

"We're you in an advanced placement in Phoenix?"

"Yes," I said, blushing again.

"Good thing we're partners then," Edward said with a jokingly cocky grin, "I rock at biology."

I rolled my eyes at Edward, and we chatted for the remainder of the lesson, waiting for our classmates to finish. Dr. Banner read out the answers, and we had a satisfying selection of ticks going down the page, where we'd written in our answers. We exchanged a grin, and then left the classroom as the bell rang.

"What d'you have next?" Edward asked.

"Gym, unfortunately. You?"

"Calc," he said.

"I suck at math. In general," I said.

"Get Em to help you. He's a math genius."

I said I'd probably take him up on that offer, and we parted to go our separate ways. I met Alice in the changing rooms, and saw Emmett once we entered the gym. Thankfully, coach Clap told me that I didn't have to play that day, but that I would the next. Needless to say, gym passed quickly and dully. Watching other teenagers get hot and sweaty while playing intense games of badminton was not my idea of fun, but I'd rather watch than do.

We met Rose, Jasper and Edward outside, and bid each other goodbye. Rose caught me, and we exchanged numbers again. Of course, this promptly lead to the rest of Rose's friends exchanging numbers with me. Edward leant against the hood of Emmett's Jeep as his friends and sister gave me their numbers, and I wondered, with a pang of hurt, whether he'd decided not to give me his. I wasn't sure why that upset me, but it did. However, once Emmett had promised to help me with trig, Edward walked over to me and we exchanged numbers.

"I warn you, my sister won't leave you alone now," he said.

"I'll deal with it," I said with a grin.

"Good luck. See you tomorrow," he said, waving as he climbed into Emmett's Jeep.

"Bye Edward."

Day one down, several hundred more to go.

And two parents to face.

_Fabulous_.


	3. Chapter 3-Secrets

**A/N**

**Between impossible maths (math, for you Americans), crazy bitches to endure, busy schedules and going from one sickness to another, I've managed to get this chapter done. Miraculously, I've managed to update this twice this week. Don't expect that often! I'll be updating Ice Angel tomorrow, and then I'll be MIA for a week. **

**Enjoy, and I'm going to get some more drugs now...**

**Lucy xX**

I wasn't all that surprised to see that nobody was home when I pulled up in our driveway that afternoon. My father was rarely home before ten o'clock, and my mother tended to get caught up in her projects. I suspected that she was yelling at somebody for doing an inadequate job at that moment in time.

With a slight sigh, I slung my bag over my shoulder and unlocked the front door. I had to admit, Forks was far prettier than Phoenix, with all the various shades of green and our beautiful house in the middle of freaking nowhere, but I still couldn't wait for the day I graduated, so that I could go back to warm, sunny, bustling Phoenix. Living in a small town sucked. You couldn't avoid people, and everybody knew everything about you. Everybody had known my name at school, all because it was such a small town.

I took a step over the threshold and clicked on the lights, sighing as the room was lit up. I ditched my bag at the foot of the stairs, glad that I'd been given no homework. This was probably as it was only the first day back at Forks High after the summer break. I'd never have escaped that at Brightmont Academy. Maybe there were more perks about moving to Forks than I'd realised.

I disappeared into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee. I loved coffee, despite my mother's disapproval. Hell, if I could, I'd ditch all the tea in the house and drink only coffee. Tea made you feel hydrated, coffee made you feel awake and alive. Though I had to admit, made properly, tea tasted one hell of a lot better than coffee. I could totally see why the English drank it so much. I just didn't understand the appeal first thing in the morning when you need caffeine, especially with a massive load of coffee next to it.

I flopped down on one of the plush leather sofas, glad that I could lay sideways in an unladylike fashion without being told off. I picked up the remote control and flicked our overly-large TV on, surfing through the channels to find something that amused me. Three hundred and eighty channels later, I'd settled on some rubbish about American forests. There was nothing else on, save for the news, which I'd listened to on my way home from school on the radio.

As though organised by God himself, of he existed at all, my phone rang at that moment. I began to reach for the little mahogany coffee table in front of me to grab my phone, when I realised I'd left it in my rucksack. Mentally calling myself an idiot, I stood up and dug around in my bag, before laying a hand on the infernal beeping device.

"Hello?" I asked, not bothering to check the caller ID.

"Bella!" I heard Alice squeal out. There was no way anybody else could make a sound that high.

"Hi Alice," I said, walking back over to the sofa and sitting down.

"I'm bored," she said, causing me to chuckle slightly. Why she'd called me, I had no idea. I'd have thought that Rose would be more able to entertain her, having known her for far longer, but perhaps I was a novelty. After all, I was new to Forks. I had no doubt there'd be a lot of rumours about myself and my family around town in the coming weeks. We were Swans after all.

"Try reading a book!" hollered a male voice in the background. I assumed that it came from Alice's father, Charlie. I was surprised that he was home so early, as he was the chief of police. Then again, I doubted there was much crime in a town like Forks. He probably got excited when he wrote a speeding ticket.

"That was my Dad," Alice said, giggling slightly.

"I guessed."

"What're you doing now?"

"Watching some programme about American forests," I said, glancing at the TV screen.

"That sounds fun," Alice said sarcastically.

"What are you doing?" I countered.

"Talking to you, duh," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"You don't say."

I was mildly surprised at myself as I continued to speak to Alice and joke with her. I didn't make friends very easily, being naturally very shy and often pre-judged by my surname, and yet I already considered Alice my friend. I had no idea if she considered me a friend, but she'd phoned me, not Rose, when she was bored. The thought made me smile slightly.

"Ooh! Edward's playing! Listen," Alice instructed me.

"What?"

"Edward. He's playing the piano," Alice said.

"Edward plays the piano?" I asked.

"Yeah."

There was silence between us, and I could hear the slightly muffled melodies coming from the other end of the phone. It sounded like Mozart, but I couldn't be sure. The guy was good, I had to give him that. Seconds stretched into minutes as Alice and I listened to Edward play. I suspected that he hadn't realised his sister was listening to him, with me on the other end of the phone. I was no good at anything musical, but I definitely appreciated it. My father had a massive grand piano in the house, but I had no idea whether or not it was tuned.

Suddenly, the notes changed into something I definitely didn't recognise. Alice spoke quietly, and told me that it was a piece Edward had composed himself a few years ago. Immediately, my respect for Edward shot up. People didn't automatically have my respect, they had to earn it, and Edward had definitely earned it. The tune was beautiful, and I could imagine him sitting on a piano stall, his long fingers poised over the keys and playing softly.

I had no idea why, but the mental image made me shiver.

Maybe it was the ruffled bronze hair.

Edward stopped playing, and I heard the near-silent scraping of a chair or stool. I then heard a door open and click shut, and a soft 'oops' came from Alice. Apparently, she'd just been caught listening at the door. I half-expected Edward to be angry - he was a guy, and popular guys couldn't play the piano like that - but he wasn't. At least, he didn't seem to be.

"Who are you bothering Alice?" I heard his ask.

"Bella."

I heard Edward's soft laugh from the other end, and he told me to have fun. I said nothing, as I doubted he'd be able to hear me, but I grinned from the my end. Alice shooed him away, and began to talk about some shopping trip she wanted me to partake in. Apparently it was customary for her and Rose to go into Seattle the weekend term started. While I didn't want to shop for clothes, I did need some more books, and I'd heard that there were a few libraries in Seattle. I told her as much.

"Awesome! We can talk about it tomorrow," she said.

"That sounds good, Alice," I said, just as a key turned in the lock of our front door. Immediately, I righted myself on the sofa and switched the channel to the news. I drained the rest of my coffee, and moved it slightly behind the small potted plant in the middle of the table. I wasn't in the mood for an argument, however small.

Alice began jabbering on the other end of the phone again, just as my mother walked into the house. She raised an eyebrow at me, and I knew she wanted to talk to me about something. Oh God. Couldn't I just keep talking to Alice? I didn't want a lecture about something after my first day in this town.

"I'm sorry Alice, I need to go, my Mom just got home," I said, interrupting her.

"Oh that's ok," she said. "Bye!"

"Bye."

I hung up and slipped my cell into the picket of my jeans. I turned to my mother, surprised that her clothes were still perfectly in-tact, despite having spent her day at some filthy old house that needed renovating. Well, I presumed that was what she'd been doing. It was her job, after all.

"How was your day Isabella?" she asked, placing her handbag on the floor and coming to sit down on one of the other chairs.

"Fine, thank you," I said.

"Who were you talking to just now?"

"Alice Cullen."

My mother's eyes widened for a moment, and she pursed her lips. I let out a slight groan, which caused my mother to glare at me. I didn't want to have the reasons why becoming friends with Alice was a bad idea, but I knew there was no way I'd escape this conversation. Or lecture, or rant. Whatever you want to call it. It all amounted to the same thing, basically.

"Cullen?" she asked.

"Yes," I got out through gritted teeth.

"I see. Isabella, you do realise that the father of this girl is part of the police force?"

"It's been mentioned, yes," I said coldly.

My mother sighed.

"You cannot befriend any old teenager," she said. "We are the Swans. We have a reputation to live up to."

"I can befriend whoever I want to," I snapped.

"Not the Cullens," she replied. "The Cullens are not of our class."

"Nobody in Forks is of 'our class', but quite frankly, I don't care. I like Alice, and her brother. Who do you suggest I hang around with?"

"Her brother?" she asked, looking horrified.

"Oh get a grip Mother," I said, rolling my eyes at her, "We are friends."

"Who else have you met?" she asked.

"Jasper Whitlock and Emmett McCarty-"

"They are... not so bad as the Cullens."

"And Rosalie Hale."

My mother nodded.

"I had assumed you would rekindle your friendship with the Hales."

"You knew Rose moved to Forks?" I asked, both incredulous and furious.

"Of course I did," she replied smoothly.

Filled with a sudden rage, I leapt up, glaring murderously at my mother. How dare she keep something like that from me? I'd asked her if she'd known where Rose had moved, and what had she said? No. Of course. Why would she tell me? She disapproved of our friendship, and she wouldn't want be trekking across the country to find her, or spending money trying to contact her.

"Sit down Isabella, and get that expression off of your face. I am your mother, treat me with some respect."

I didn't move.

"Isabella!" my mother snapped.

"How dare you?" I hissed, surprising even myself by the venom in my voice.

She merely shrugged.

"The Hales weren't returning. You needed to move on with your life," she said.

"I had a right to know," I said, my voice controlled, but hard.

"I had a right to keep the information to myself. It was for you."

"Oh please," I snorted, trying to sound as unladylike as I could, just to annoy my mother. "We both know you did it because you didn't like me spending so much time with Rose. It didn't look good."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard."

"You will not use that tone with me Isabella. Why do you think we moved to Forks? You weren't getting anything out of Phoenix, or of Brightmont Academy, so we decided to relocate somewhere new. The Hales had liked it here."

"You- You were in contact with the Hales?" I managed to gasp out.

"Yes."

I opened my mouth to speak, possibly to shout, and then shut it again. There was no point. What good would it do? It would only get me into trouble. I took a deep breath and morphed my expression into an emotionless mask. I'd mastered the poker-face over the years, and it served me well in times like these. I only hoped that my mother didn't speak of this discussion with my father. That would complicate things. He'd be exceedingly cross about my behaviour.

"Fine," I said. "I have things to do. I'll be in my bedroom."

"What exactly do you have to do?"

"It's none of your business," I said.

"Yes, it is. I'm your mother."

I clenched my hands into fists, trying my absolute best not to take a swing at the woman that called herself my mother. How could she preach to me like she just had, and lie about the Hales for all those years, and then decide that what I did in my private life had anything to do with her? I bit down on my lower lip hard, trying not to let out the stream of insults that wanted to fly from my mouth. That would get me nowhere, except head-first into trouble with both my mother and father.

At that moment in time, I was exceedingly jealous of the people I'd met that day. Though all of their families had fallen apart, through divorce and death, what remained was a strong family unit. Jasper and Emmett were obviously close, and they seemed to love the other's parent like their own. Rose and her father had always been exceedingly close. And then Alice and Edward had their father, whom they could confide in, and talk to, and each other. Alice clearly loved her brother, from the way she'd spoken about siblings.

And I had parents that seemed to hate me.

I spun round, unable to stop myself. Pure, hot rage had raced through my veins, probably with a bit of adrenaline too. I fixed my gaze on my mother, and was unable to hold up my mask of nonchalance any longer. My face twisted into a cold, hard glare, and before I knew what I was doing, I opened my mouth and spoke.

"My mother? Really? Maybe you should start acting like it," I spat, before turning sharply on my heel and storming up the stairs, reaching for my bag as I mounted them, leaving my mother sitting there on one of the armchairs, mouth open in horror at my words. But I'd meant every one of them.

I groaned as I reached my bedroom, and flung myself down on the bed. It didn't take long for the angry tears to fall, and I wiped them away, not wanting to cry. If there was one thing I hated, it was crying. I didn't cry. I'd learnt not to. Not even Rose had seen me cry. My parents certainly hadn't.

I stood up and made my way to the window, flinging it open and allowing the freezing cold air to wash over my hot face. I leant out of it slightly as the wind picked up, and revelled in the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair, reaching right down to my scalp. There was no feeling like it.

I thought over the events of the evening, particularly regarding my mother. I couldn't believe she'd kept in contact with the Hales for those years, and not even told me that Rose had moved to Forks. Or even just that she'd moved to Washington. And then she preached about who I could and couldn't be friends with.

I took a deep breath to try and calm myself a little. After controlling my emotions, I returned to my bed, pulling the window closed as I left. I slipped my cell out of my pocket, knowing that there was, really, only one thing I could do. I sighed as I scrolled down my contacts, passing my friends of Phoenix, the new friends I'd made over the course of the day, and acquaintances I barely knew before reaching the number I wanted.

I hit the call button, and waited.

"Hello?" asked the familiar voice of my best friend.

I felt better immediately.

"Hi Rose," I said, letting out a long breath.

"What's the mater Bella?" she asked, concern lacing her voice.

"Everything," I said, before telling her about the events of my evening.

When I was done, Rose was silent.

"Rose?"

"That means my father was in contact with your parents and never told me," she said. "Why? I don't get it."

"Neither do I."

Rose took a deep breath and then let it out again all in one go.

"I'll be having a nice long chat with my dear father later," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Have fun," I said in a emotionless tone.

"Don't listen to what Esme said about the Cullens. They're the last people on Earth that would want to steal your money, believe me. They have plenty of money to get by, and both Edward and Alice work after school four days a week."

"I know they wouldn't steal money Rose," I said quietly. "But I'm upset that my mother would say those things."

"I don't really know what to say Bella," she replied softly. "She's your mother, and somehow, in her own twisted way, she loves you. Eventually, she'll realise that the Cullens are one of the nicest families out there."

"I hope so."

"And if not, you've always got us," she said.

I smiled.

"Would your Dad even remember me?"

"Apparently so," Rose said darkly, before turning lighter again. "But you do look pretty different."

"Really? How so?"

"You've filled out, and you've gotten taller-"

"I should hope so," I said.

"Really Bella, you're taller in comparison to me than you were before."

"Good," I said, grinning.

"And your hair is even more beautiful-"

"I need hardly tell you it's far less beautiful than yours."

"Take a compliment Swan. You've turned..." Rose hesitated, as though looking for the right word.

"I've turned what?"

"Hot," she said.

I giggled.

Bella Swan: hot.

Right.

In my dreams.


End file.
